How to customize and edit your YouTube channel one layout?

Explains the YouTube Channel One features and how to use them effectively

Channel one layout/ one channel is the layout style YouTube has introduced very recently. Definitely the new one is way better looking than the previous one and new features introduces are just awesome. The name they have given for the new layout is coping well with the very purpose of it, which is one channel for all devices. You no more need to worry about designing a YouTube channel for each device, setting up the one channel layout properly will help you with that. However there are some features seems to be missing from the previous one which may negatively affect YouTube partners.

Let’s take a quick tour through the new layout and its possibilities. When you first land to your YouTube channel you will get a notification from YouTube asking your permission to change the layout to new channel one layout. If you haven’t received the same then the possibility is- you are already in the new layout. The first thing you are going to notice in the new layout is- there is no background image. Now the only customization you can do as images are channel art and profile picture.

Channel art

People are busy; mostly they will judge your whole channel from the channel name, avatar and channel art alone, they won’t even bother to look into one of your video hence the role of channel art is that much important in captivating audience. Your channel art should be visually attractive and in the same time it should deliver viewers and idea about your channel. You can point out what they will get by subscribing to your channel. A channel with proper channel art are twice likely to be subscribed than one with no channel art even though both same contents in them. To change your channel art click on the pencil icon on the right top to the channel art, this will show you two options to choose from.

Edit links

Edit channel art

Once you click on the Edit channel art you will land on a dialog box like one shown below;

You can drag and drop you channel art to this dialog box if it is stored in the local drive or you can choose a picture from your Google+ or Picasa, for that you have to click on “Your photos” located on left side bar of the dialog box. If you don’t have picture ready with you, opt for the suggested pictures from the YouTube Gallery by clicking “Gallery” from the left side bar. Using a custom channel art is highly recommended however you can rely on default images if you don’t have one yet since it is better to use some images instead of leaving it blank.

To be honest the trickiest part with is Designing the channel art. Since the same image will be shown in all devices you have to design the channel art that will fill up the screen when your channel is viewed in Televisions and the main contents of it should be in the safe zone since the channel art will get cropped when your channel is viewed in PC or tablets. The total resolution should be 2560x1440 pixels or more but in same aspect ratio and your main content should be placed exactly in center with a size 898x176 pixels which is the safe zone in your channel art; the region which will be visible in all devices. You can use this template as a reference. It’s not that easy to design single image which will fit everywhere but it worth spending a little time or you can hire an expert to do that for you.

Profile picture:

If your YouTube channel is representing a Business or organization you can use your logo as Avatar which is the best practice else you can use your picture (Author Picture) as Avatar, which will help your to create an author identity in YouTube. Now to change your profile picture/avatar repeat the same- click on the pencil button just aside of your profile picture and it will take you to the Google+ page where you can choose a good profile picture. It’s better if you choose an image with an aspect ratio 1:1, there is nothing complicated- it’s just like changing profile picture in Facebook, twitter something or like that.

Custom links:

If someone finds your channel to be interesting, they will be most likely to visit your website or blog too. Don’t miss that opportunity by making them searching for a link to you in the videos or descriptions. Provide a link on the channel art itself and make it easier for the audience to connect with you. Yes it is possible to place custom links on the channel art. Now let’s have a look at How to add custom links in the channel art itself. For that you have to go to the same pencil button on the top right corner once again but choose the “edit link option” instead. This will take you to the about page of your channel.

Fill the first field with the text to appear instead of the link and provide the URL of the particular site in the second field. You can give as much links as you wish but only the first link in the list will appear on the channel art, so provide the most important link as the first one. Also you can provide links to your social media pages- directly from the channel art. You can do that by filling in the fields below "Social links". Even though you can list all your social media pages here only a maximum of 4 will appear in the channel art.

There is a lot more you can do in the channel one layout but for now that’s all you need as an initial step-up. We will be discussing the remaining features in the next section of “How to customize and edit your YouTube channel one layout?”

Channel Trailer

Have you ever wished for a feature that will help you to turn your viewers into subscribers, Channel trailer is the answer for you! You can now welcome your unsubscribed viewers with an exclusive trailer of your channel and impress them and make them subscribe to your channel effortlessly. Use trailer to show them what they can expect from the channel but don’t tell them everything, you can use their anxiety to convert them to a subscriber. There are certain things you should consider before choosing a video as the trailer.

Remember that it’s a trailer; keep it short and simple.

Try to make your trailer less than 1 minute in duration.

Use call to actions well; Use annotations to make viewers to subscribe to your channel or to watch another video on your channel remember to leave time for the viewer to take action.

Trailer should summarize the whole channel, not a particular video or a playlist.

To add a channel trailer click on the add channel art icon. This will take you to a dialog box as shown below.

You can select a video that you have uploaded earlier or you can specify the URL to the video you wish to use as your channel trailer and click OK. The video you have selected will now appear to the unsubscribed visitors as a trailer of your whole channel.

Channel sections

Until now the only way to organice your videos where using playlists. Now you can use channel sections to create dynamic lists of videos. You can arrange your videos in endless ways, in each section you can re-arrange the order in which the videos will appear to the audiance. You can list videos under any section based on the playlists or video tags.Sections will be visible only on the channel’s browse page. Any of the following can be listed under a section.

Videos

Popular Uploads

Recent Uploads

Likes

Live Now

Upcoming events

Previous Events

Playlists

All playlists

Single playlists

Multiple playlists

Other

Recent activities

Recent posts

Channels

Tags

Adding a channel section will add a dynamic look to your YouTube channel and you can choose which videos on your channel needs to be in the first place. So that you can promote one particular video or multiple videos even a playlist with no trouble. The picture shown below is a sample for effective section usage.

It’s better to list your recent uploads as the first section so that viewers can quickly access your latest videos. As the second section you can list one of your popular playlists or the list of all playlists you have- it’s completely depends on your channel, opt for the list of playlists if you don’t have a very popular playlist. Please note that you don’t have to create a separate section for “recent activities” since YouTube will create that for subscribed viewers by default.

Now you have a YouTube Channel with- Channel art to make that first impression, Avatar to show who you are, Custom links to help viewers to quickly connect to your website or social media site, Channel trailer for unsubscribed viewers and custom sections to precisely categorize the videos. With that you have a perfectly customized YouTube channel one layout which is stunning to look at and exceptionally functional.